Threads of Justice
by Plains Pirate
Summary: Instead of committing suicide, Ragyou decides to toss Ryuuko into a dimensional rift. This doesn't slow her down though, instead she just changes her reason to fight. Now she fights for justice... and also to find her way home, find her mother, and beat her threadless. Almost the same as it ever was. T for now, may change later, no ships for now.
1. I: Drops Of Jupiter

**an:** New fic! New fic! And new franchises -

 **disclaimer:** Two, in fact - two new fandoms for you to disappoint!

 **an:** Shaddup. Anyway while this fic is new (and one of a few crossovers for one of these franchises that I had an idea for), these franchises aren't - Young Justice having its last episode at the time of writing in March of 2013, and Kill la Kill having its final episode release April of the following year. **This will be** _ **extremely**_ **spoiler-heavy for Kill la Kill,** as it starts in that universe near the end of Episode 24 (Past the Infinite Darkness), the final episode before the OVA. For those new to Young Justice but not Kill la Kill, however, don't worry - this starts between episodes 1b/2 (Fireworks) and 2/3 (Welcome to Happy Harbor).

 **disclaimer:** Kill la Kill is a production of of Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima; and property of them and Studio Trigger, a division of Ultra Super Pictures. Young Justice is a production of Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman (among others), and is owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers Animation.

"Spoken"

"[Spoken in a language other than English]"

 _Thought_

 _[Telepathic communication]_

" _ **Electronic communication via means besides radio"**_

 _ **[[Radio communication]]**_

 **chapter i - drops of jupiter**

 _Drops of Jupiter_

 _Disc 01 Track 03: Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)_

 _Released: 20 February 2001 (Single version)_

 _Artist: Train_

 _Language: English_

 **Earth 121,312**

 **20,000 kilometers above Honno-ji Academy, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan**

 **22:30 Japan Regional Time**

 **August 6, 2014**

The thin net of Life Fibers cocooning the Earth, looking so much like a solid sheet of red from this altitude, began to peel back from below the satellite. Cracks spread across the 'sheet' like those on an egg, before spreading out to a reverse-wave around the world. Were one to look closely, they'd see pinprick meteors descending from the cross points of the global weave.

Humans.

Humans rejecting the lull of power, security, or whatever else the Life Fibers could offer them in exchange for 'living' out the rest of their existence as a battery.

Humans by the billions fell to the Earth below, the Life Fibers around them burning up in the atmosphere and providing just enough resistance to prevent injury from the descent. Those humans wouldn't get so much as a sprained ankle from the fall.

Two women floated, somehow breathing and surviving the lack of pressure, above the spindle-like satellite below them. Neither of them were fully human, both were partially Life Fiber, but only one was a slave to the fibers.

Drained of emotion, she looked from her daughter, to the Earth below, at last free of her influence or the control of the fibrous aliens she sold herself and her planet out to.

"Impossible," she barely muttered. Her daughter allowed herself the smallest of smirks. She had been so high and mighty, so nearly omnipotent for so long, it was refreshing to see her taken down a peg. Or a few. Or, really, all of them.

"This cannot be happening. Everything is returning to nothing?"

"That's right, mother." Mother, or in the language she was using, 'kaa-san'. It was ironic, really. This _thing_ in front of her had technically given birth to her, but she sure as Hell wasn't a mother.

Still…

"The Earth will never be a Cocoon Sphere now. Please, come back peacefully to Earth."

She'd seen a hell of a lot over the course of the past eleven months. A journey to find her father's killer that had begun the September before after discovering a red scissor blade the size of a broadsword in the school parking lot with a note addressed to her, now ending kilometers above the Earth's surface after befriending a sentient school uniform. What a wild ride.

But in that time she'd learned how to forgive others, as well as herself. And if she could forgive the bitch that she'd thought for four months was her father's killer _and_ had withheld an assload of information that could have led directly to his real killer, well, why not try and give a chance to the mastermind?

It wasn't like she was in a position to say _no_. Life Fibers embedded into her very body or no, neither of them could stay up here for long, and the woman lacked a Kamui to provide additional protection.

In one timeline, the woman would have taken the way of the Samurai when faced with incontrovertible defeat, not out of honor but of pure spite in order to deny her daughter the final victory, the final closure.

This was not that timeline.

After several seconds, a demonic grin crossed the woman's face. Her nails seemed to lengthen on her left hand.

" _Pathetic."_

She reached out and dug her hands into _nothing_ , and yet blood red cracks trailed her fingertips as she dragged them down through the vacuum of space.

But the cracks weren't cracks, their edges were fuzzy and vague like…

Tears.

Tears in the _fabric_ of spacetime.

"I will decide how and _when_ I die! Not you, not your sister, not any other pathetic _beast_ in clothing!"

"You bitch! What are you-"

In her other hand, she held a spindle of the Original Life Fiber. As if things weren't bad enough with a tear in reality, now she had the chance to start all over again. She held the damn thing up like she was showing off a World Cup trophy.

"Ryuuko, this is not the end. Life Fibers continue their advance across the cosmos. More will come to Earth - of that you can count on."

Senketsu's lone eye widened in horror. "Ryuuko! Get back, she's-"

Too fast. Even without her monstrous Kamui, even bared to the vacuum of space with just the Life Fibers that made up her body holding her together, Ragyou Kiryuuin was just too fast to avoid. Or perhaps it was her arm stretching out to grab Ryuuko. Either way, Ryuuko just was not fast enough to maneuver out of the way and avoid being thrown headfirst into the rift.

As she turned to watch a shadow cover the rift's opening, Ryuuko Matoi's last conscious thought before succumbing to the violence of the rift was that she probably wouldn't make it for Mako's date.

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 **Earth 16**

 **73 kilometers above central Texas, United States**

 **10:23 AM Central Standard Time**

 **July 10, 2010**

The good news, in Senketsu's mind, was that Ragyou was at least kind enough to drop her daughter in the mesosphere above an Earth-like planet instead of the blackness of space. At first he thought that perhaps the woman's maternal instincts were rising up out of the black tar pit of Hell that was her soul, but that thought was quickly dismissed. More likely the woman just wasn't through toying with Ryuuko.

After all, she could easily have put her in the troposphere, or at least the stratosphere. As things were, they were going to be jumping from twice the height of Felix Baumgartner's jump two years ago - something he only knew about because Ryuuko's science teacher had used said video in a lesson on the layers of the atmosphere. And he only knew that because Ryuuko may or may not have relied on him a little too much to pay attention in class for her.

And faster too - already they were dropping at several hundred knots - not a lethal speed, but they hadn't even reached the stratosphere yet and it was a long, long way down. Senketsu was putting all his focus into steering the still-comatose Ryuuko on a path that wouldn't lead her to a violent end. At least they were in central Texas, which had no lack of farmland or grassland to land on - not that he was aware of this just yet. He was a sailor uniform, not a GPS, and while Isshin Matoi 'programmed' in a fair amount of information in him, mostly to help Ryuuko along with her education when/if they dealt with the Life Fibers, he didn't put in much in the way of visual map knowledge.

Like a black, red, and human bullet Senketsu and Ryuuko descended into the lower atmosphere. At the speeds they were travelling, Senketsu could _feel_ the heat of friction with the air as they penetrated the stratopause, but it was nothing compared to falling from higher - holding one's hand over a pot of molten lead instead of sticking one's head in it. However, the denser lower atmosphere provided one advantage - spreading out to a spread-eagle, or a high-drag parachute-like form, would hurt a _lot_ less now that they were already slowing down.

Inch by Inch, Senketsu stretched his body out while using his outer hems like puppet strings to move Ryuuko's limbs to a position better suited for parachuting.

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 **Earth 16**

 **46 kilometers above southern Wyoming, United States**

 **10:25 AM Local Time**

 **July 10, 2010**

It was unusual for J'onn J'ozz to be using a vehicle for flight, after all, he _could_ fly on his own. Not at the speeds of Superman, of course - only he and the Flash could move faster than a speeding bullet - but fast enough to not need a plane. And he wasn't using the Zeta Tubes, for two reasons. Well, three reasons.

Firstly, he just got back from a Justice League side mission dealing with a minor alien incursion in northern Canada, and there weren't any Zeta Tube openings in that area. Batman was planning to set one up in Yellowknife, but even that would've been a few hours flight time for a typical aircraft, and not everyone was supersonic.

Secondly, the red bioship he was flying in was to be a gift for his niece. A new model meant for both performance and capacity, it had been advertised as more than capable of making the trek between Mars and Earth at just under five times lightspeed without modifications, capable of seating fifteen, and lifting several Earth metric tons of cargo. There were a few tweaks he convinced the manufacturers to throw in - military-grade stealth and FTL drives, higher-penetration cannons, aftermarket communication encryption software and ECCM, and of course the ruby red color. Among other things. But while she was certified for Venus or thicker atmospheric densities, it was always best to check how bioships handled different atmospheres, just to be safe. It had handled the magnetosphere of Jupiter, the heat of Mercury, and the winds of Neptune well enough, and he was _quite_ sure it could live up to advertisements when it came to the caustic Venusian atmosphere thank you - J'onn was sure neither his niece nor the bioship would like it much if their first meeting involved dissolved paint and a repair bill on the dashboard. So far, it was handling the comparatively tame Earth weather just fine - a bit of adjustment was needed for it to deal with water storms, but otherwise it was handling perfectly.

Thirdly, well… it was a lot easier to sneak Oreos to Middleton on a bioship. So he had a thing for Oreos, sue him, he wasn't addicted anymore, and he never would let himself get that bad again since he could just purge himself if it ever came close to that point. He still wouldn't let M'gann have any though. Last thing Trader Joe's needed was _two_ Martians cleaning them out of Oreos on a regular basis.

He was still sure to wolf down the Oreos in his hand as a call came in on the Bioship from none other than Batman himself. A tad awkward, but he managed to compose himself before (he hoped) Batman noticed.

Batman noticed of course, but he wasn't about to say anything.

" _ **Watchtower just picked up a dimensional rift open and close over central Texas. You're the closest Leaguer, so you'll have to be the first to investigate."**_

Certainly an unusual enough event to warrant the League's attention. Still, Texas was on the other side of Colorado from where J'onn was at the moment, and was in an unfortunate situation - Texas had a fair number of heroes (and villains), but was 'unclaimed' by any of the big names. The closest was Captain Atom, and he was based out of Albuquerque, and more importantly, currently busy dealing with a nuclear accident in central China.

"Any details on what came out of it?"

Manhunter was smart - as odd as a dimensional rift over America was, scientific 'accidents' of similar nature were common and usually left to the local heroes unless something came out of it worthy of the Watchtower's direct attention.

" _ **Scanners aren't precise enough to scan for species at that range without someone nearby, but whatever it is, it's humanoid, there's only one, and it's not moving like someone fully in control of their body."**_

"An accident?"

" _ **Most likely, but again, we cannot confirm with the Watchtower's sensors alone. See what you can find out."**_

It was a request, but coming from Batman it sounded more like an order. It always did.

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 **Earth 16**

 **32 kilometers above central Texas, United States**

 **10:31 Local Time**

 **July 10, 2010**

Upon shifting his form to that of a fascimile of a parachute and slowing their descent to an easy fifty knots, Senketsu discovered a more pressing problem - temperature. At forty five degrees below zero, Ryuuko risked frostbite with him over her whole body if they stayed in an area with such extreme cold for long if Senketsu was _active -_ She managed to hold out in space simply because his Kisaragi form was just that much more powerful, and therefore more efficient at keeping her safe, and even then she was conscious enough to help.

Here, she was unconscious and practically in her underwear with how much fabric he was using to maintain the parachute. Ryuuko always ran a little hot compared to the human average, and already her blood temperature had fallen to 36 Celsius. He could risk relaxing and letting her drop to the warmer lower atmosphere, but that was a long way down, and he had already been active for a long time - there was the risk he wouldn't have enough time left to reform a parachute all the way down. He could shift to a standard form and hope for the best, but while Ryuuko could take a beating she'd never fallen from this high before. And he was pretty sure they weren't in Japan anymore - the city below them looked a lot like Dallas, and he knew full well that Ryuuko wasn't the best student when it came to English.

This would be… unpleasant, one way or anoth-

 _There is an unusual aircraft approaching us from the north…_

It was red and shaped like a trident,with the middle prong being fat and round, like a rugby ball. It was approaching at an incredible speed - clearly supersonic, even as it was slowing down to approach them at a matched speed.

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The Martian Manhunter didn't quite know what to make of the sight before him, and neither did the bioship, though the bioship was young and inexperienced enough that it thought a lot of things were odd.

But even by the standards of the Martian Manhunter, this was odd. A human female, clearly of Asian descent, in striped underwear floating down at a higher-than-average speed on a parachute that looked remarkably like a black and red school uniform.

Well, he'd seen _stranger_ , but this was up there, not counting the handful of times he worked alongside Batman when the Joker got a little too big for Gotham. Though there was that one time with the spaghetti monster…

He maneuvered the bioship to directly beneath the parachuting human, matching the speed of their descent minus a kilometer per hour or so to ease their fall before the ship opened a sufficiently large hole in the cockpit. The woman - who couldn't have been more than eighteen - dropped like a feather onto the metallic floor, with the uniform-like parachute falling behind her. The moment it was fully within the cockpit, the uniform reformed from a parachute-like shape to a Japanese sailor-style school uniform, though with a noticeable midriff, with the skirt being held up by a combination of a belt and suspenders. More unusual still was the eye-like pattern on the left-hand side of the scarf - it seemed to follow him as he moved about the cockpit, and as a platform raised from the floor as a makeshift bed/stretcher.

" _ **Martian Manhunter to Watchtower."**_

This time, it was Green Arrow to answer. He looked a little worse for wear, and sweatier than normal, but he was quick to respond.

" _ **Hey. Batman's out conducting a sting on a probable Mad Hatter drug warehouse, and Superman's out doing disaster relief in Florida, so I'm holding down the fort for now. What's up?"**_

 _So it_ is _America,_ thought Senketsu. _I suspected as much from the accents, but this confirms it. This should make things interesting._ _But for now, I should focus on returning Ryuuko's body temperature to normal._

An observant eye, such as the one the Martian Manhunter had, would notice Senketsu's lapels and scarf shrink as the rest of the uniform expanded, lengthened, and thickened, to speed warming. A slightly less observant eye would notice Senketsu's 'eye' observing Martian Manhunter, and suddenly return to its standard, look-ahead gaze upon being noticed.

" _ **I have the humanoid on board - human female, Japanese descent, I estimate between sixteen and twenty years old. She is unconscious and has some light bruising and cuts, but is otherwise uninjured. More unusual is her clothes - a black sailor uniform with shapeshifting properties, possibly sentient."**_

" _ **Wait, did you say a**_ **sentient school uniform?** _ **Are you sure?"**_

 _[Thank you…]_

" _ **Very. Excuse me for a moment,"**_ Martian Manhunter said as he turned around. Senketsu stiffened up as if doused in starch, but it was too late and too obvious to hide.

Martian Manhunter was tall by American standards, a little on the tall side by Martian standards, but by Japanese standards he was enormous. Of course, Ryuuko was still unconscious, but Senketsu could only lose consciousness if he was fully drained of blood or severely damaged, so he got an eyeful of a very tall Martian standing over him.

He considered himself lucky he had the self-control to not shiver.

 _[Do not be alarmed, I have no intention of harming you.]_

This caused Senketsu to relax… a little. He remained stiff, but no longer was he _comically_ stiff. Beneath him (or was it inside him?) Ryuuko stirred, but did not wake.

 _[You can… hear me?]_

 _[I am a telepath, and you are communicating telepathically, are you not?]_

That was a good question. Thus far, only Ryuuko (and, briefly, Satsuki) had been able to hear, let alone communicate, with Senketsu.

 _[I am… unsure. To be honest, many of the finer details of my creation have been lost to me.]_

He paused. _[Ah, my apologies, I believe introductions of a sort are in order. I am Senketsu, and the girl wearing me is… surnames come last in English so Ryuuko Matoi.]_

 _[Greetings, Senketsu, I am known as Martian Manhunter.]_

 _[I assume that is not your real name?]_

 _[Correct.]_

" _ **Hey, J'onn, if you're busy-"**_

"Apologies," the Martian Manhunter said as he returned to the pilot's seat. "The uniform is indeed sentient, and its name is apparently Senketsu. The female's name is Ryuuko Matoi, which confirms that she is Japanese, but not how the two got here."

" _ **As in how the portal formed? Well, I'd love to provide input on that end, but it vanished almost as soon as it showed up - all we managed to confirm was that its other end wasn't in this universe."**_

 _[So we are not in our home universe, then…]_

 _[That seems to be the case.]_ Ryuuko stirred once again, this time with a bit more effort. She'd definitely wake up soon, though.

"Is there any possibility of reopening the portal to send them home?"

Oliver sighed. _**"Without knowing which universe they came from exactly, and where exactly they came out of it… not really. From what Supes and the Lanterns say, dimensional travel is a messy business even if you know what you're doing."**_

"I see," __said a disappointed Manhunter.

Senketsu sounded more resigned than disappointed, but not fully so.

 _[So long as there is hope, there is no reason to despair. Besides, our fight is over.]_ At last, Ryuuko woke up, sitting up with a start. She looked at Martian Manhunter. She looked at Green Arrow. Green Arrow looked at Martian Manhunter. Green Arrow looked at Ryuuko. Ryuuko put her gloved hand to her head and sighed.

[Senketsu, what the _fuck_ is goin' on?]

 _[We are in another dimension, Ryuuko. You were unconscious and freezing to death in the upper atmosphere, and the green one - Martian Manhunter - rescued us in his…]_

 _[Bioship.]_

 _[Bioship. We are over Texas, that is the extent of my knowledge.]_

Ryuuko slumped. In another dimension, and her mother didn't even have the common courtesy to dump her over Japan. Typical. Just typical. After proper introductions, the Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow continued their conversation for a few minutes, but Ryuuko didn't pay much attention - Senketsu would later tell her it was about the odd DNA abnormalities they had detected in her, Senketsu's sentience, and the nature of the rift they had come out of.

" _ **Well, that's a lot of info, but before we dive any deeper into it maybe we should, you know,**_ **ask her?** _ **[So, Ryuuko, what led up to you ending up in our dimension?]"**_

Ryuuko sat up a bit straighter. [You want the short story or the long story? The long story'll take a while.]

All three occupants of the Bioship looked at Oliver, who shrugged. _**"[Star City's pretty quiet most of the time during the day. I got time.]"**_

One rather long life story later (made longer with questions and interjections), starting from when Ryuuko's father was killed to her duel with her mother in space, Green Arrow was doing a very good job of keeping his jaw off the floor. J'onn, of course, did a far better job as his only reaction was a raised set of eye… ridges.

" _ **[So lemme get this straight… Your mother, Ragyou Kiryuuin, got possessed by alien space yarn that feeds on biolectricity, turned her evil and led her to create a global textile and fashion monopoly in order to use all of humanity as fuel for said alien space yarn to reproduce, detonate the earth, and spread themselves across the cosmos. You were born initially to be her successor, but she abandoned you when she**_ **thought** _**her attempt to merge an infant with these 'Life Fibers' failed. You were then spirited away by your father, while your sister was raised by your mom, and raised without your knowledge to be a weapon. Meanwhile your mother created a sentient sailor uniform out of these Life Fibers, Junketsu, to be used by your sister to make up for her incompatibility with life fibers in her body. Your father then vanished from her life and created your sailor uniform, Senketsu, shortly after ditching you in boarding school, then founded an organization called 'Nudist Beach' to destroy your mother's work. Some time later he created the Scissor Blade out of solidified life fibers, tricking your mother into thinking that was his weapon to destroy her, leading to his death. You set out to avenge him, which led you to the school your sister was running like an army base in a secret,**_ **completely independent** _ **plot to kill your mother. After knocking out a few of her student council staff you get roped into it after your mother's little demon, Nui Harime showed up, shit went down, you temporarily get brainwashed, defeat your mother and the Life Fibers by stealing the power from her own sailor uniform, and then your mother threw you in a portal, and now you're here?]"**_

"[Well my father made both Junketsu and Senketsu, they're called Kamui, and mother's Kamui was a wedding dress, not a sailor uniform. But you got the gist of it, yeah.]"

" _ **[You certainly lived in interesting times then. So, what now?]"**_

"[Whaddya mean?]"

" _ **[Well, you don't seem the type to just wait around for your friends to come get you when you're stuck in an alternate reality. So what's your plan?]"**_

The dimensional arrival shrugged. "[Iunno. Figured I'd do what I did before pops died - defend the weak, beat the crap out of the strong to defend the weak and test my strength, avoid getting suckered into a gang again, you know, the usual stuff.]"

To this answer, Oliver smiled. _**"[Is that so? Well, in that case, if you're interested in working with others, I may have a proposal for you to keep you busy until we find out how to get you back to your home dimension…]"**_

It was Ryuuko's turn to smile.

"[I'm listening.]"

 **an:** Whew! That took a lot longer than planned, and the ending was a bit more rushed than I wanted (I wanted to cover her arriving at the Cave, but I feel introducing Ryuuko to The Team could take up a chapter all on its own), but this works as an initial, get-your-attention basic-setup sort of thing.

And don't worry, I'm not cutting Ryuuko off completely, and Satsuki, Mako, and the Four Devas may show up as early as late first season in Young Justice timeline - though obviously things will branch out.

I'm also planning on developing a rogue's gallery for Ryuuko. Mostly original or derivative characters, but I'm open to suggestions for existing DC villains. And yes, she will be based in Texas. Texas needs more love in DC.


	2. II: Sky High

**an:** At long last! With the chapter for my other fic done, no major responsibilities for a few weeks at _least_ , I can at last do this chapter now.

 **disclaimer:** And here I thought you really cared about _all_ your fics and works.

 **an:** I do, oh I do, but I hate when it takes so long for me to make chapters.

 **disclaimer:** Executive dysfunction?

 **an:** My executive is functioning more than properly, thank you.

 **disclaimer:** That's not what I- nevermind.

 **an:** Anyway hold that thought, I believe 'tis time for the show, 'specially now that the new Young Justice trailer has energised me so!

 **disclaimer:** 'Tis. Kill la Kill is a production of of Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima; and property of them and Studio Trigger, a division of Ultra Super Pictures. Young Justice is a production of Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman (among others), and is owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers Animation.

"Spoken"

"[Spoken in a language other than English]"

 _Thought_

 _[Telepathic communication]_

" _ **Electronic communication via means besides radio"**_

 _ **[[Radio communication]]**_

* * *

 **chapter ii - sky high**

 _Sky High_

 _Side 01 Track 01: Sky High_

 _Released: 26 September 1975 (Single version)_

 _Artist: Jigsaw_

 _Language: English_

 **Earth 16**

 **Bat Family Texas Safehouse #5**

 **Galveston, Texas, United States**

 **11:16 AM Central Daylight Time**

 **July 14, 2010**

The days had already passed so quickly, and already Ryuuko had changed quite a bit in order to adjust to her new surroundings. The most obvious of course was the appearance of Senketsu itself, at the very least in its 'active' form. Most notably was the amount of fabric present - through the use of adding the same carbon nanotubes found laced throughout the Batsuit, it had increased to the point that the top of Senketsu's active form came all the way down to the bottom of her sternum, just low enough to eliminate all trace of underboob. The skirt came down a bit longer, so that it left just about an inch of exposed skin between the bottom of the skirt and the top of her boots, as well as the back going up as high as her lumbar vertebrae instead of starting in the middle right at the tailbone. In Senketsu's 'inactive' state the difference was even less obvious - the top was a little thicker and the sleeves and lower hem were _maybe_ a half-inch longer each, and the skirt was an inch longer at most. In addition, Senketsu's belt loops had been modified to accept a red utility belt - Robin's idea, as was the cloth mask that hid the upper part of her face in addition to providing some extra visual info.

At first, Ryuuko had protested to altering Senketsu at all - sure it was embarrassing, but she had long since gotten used to it and accepted Senketsu's form as being 'just that revealing.' Durability did not convince her - Life Fibers had proven in testing to be notably stronger than even the nanotubes. Nor did the idea of 'extra coverage' do it - as it turned out, the reason she didn't frequently end up getting disembowled was because Senketsu cooperated with the Life Fibers within her own body to make her skin stronger than Kevlar - not to the degree of his own Life Fibers or even nanotubes, but it certainly explained why neither she nor Satsuki ever cut each other in half.

Ultimately, what had convinced her to accept the changes was the makeup of this 'young Justice League' team, unofficially known as just 'The Team' that she would be a part of. (Which she was a little annoyed about, but she had only been in this dimension for a few days (so she hadn't had time to figure out how things worked here), she had a spotty education record (though that hadn't stopped Captain Marvel even if Batman was fairly certain using the wisdom of Solomon counted as cheating), and most important of all she was only seventeen, and the rules were the rules.)

Now it wasn't specifically the makeup. Sure, with four guys and two girls (counting herself and Miss Martian) it was a bit lopsided in gender makeup, but she didn't care about that. Superboy was, according to Batman, 'cold and still a little unused to social norms' and had mentioned something about a Cadmus not 'programming' him for it (Robin filled her in on the details). Robin was, well, Robin, and she had spent a lot of the past few days training with him physically - more to practice non-lethal combat with both hand-to-hand and with the Scissor Blade. While her typical fighting style was best described as 'unruly' and 'violently self-taught', it was still effective. So Robin she was fine with. Aqualad she had heard of from Aquaman himself who had watched her training alongside Flash, Wonder Woman, and the Big Blue Boy Scout himself. According to the King of Atlantis he was a perfect gentleman and, from their brief spar, Ryuuko trusted him on that.

And then there was Kid Flash, who was described by the Flash Flash as a 'typical teenager, if a bit of a reckless, girl-crazy class clown.' One would think someone who had lived with the Mankanshoku family for a little under a year would have been used to that type, but to be fair, apart from Mako they were always in the metaphorical bleachers, never in the ring with her.

Though it was mostly Senketsu suggesting that he would be willing to try adding material to be less 'revealing' if it would make Ryuuko more comfortable. Which pissed her off because he had never suggested such a thing before, but she calmed down eventually. One pile of carbon nanotubes sucked up like spaghetti later, and Senketsu's active form could be worn in most first world countries with a greatly reduced risk of being arrested for public indecency. He commented something about how 'this must be what it felt like to wear clothes'.

But the author digresses.

At the moment, Ryuuko was in the training room, armed with a Wayne Enterprises (naturally) shinai and wearing a Wayne Enterprises (naturally) bogu. At the moment, her helmet was off - in order to breathe easier and allow air to more easily flow into and clear the funk of exercise from her bogu.

That sort of in-garment air quality tended to happen after several hours of exercising with kendo. Something that Ryuuko didn't personally see as necessary, but Batman had been pretty firm in suggesting she study as many sword styles as she could, seeing as she _did_ fight with a sword. Well, technically a giant scissor blade (and now two of them), but the Red Scissor Blade was her primary, and it was big enough it functioned a lot like a two-handed sword anyway. Another reason he had suggested it was mostly to learn how to use a sword without the risk of killing anyone. In her own world she hadn't had to worry about that - sharp the Scissor Blade may have been, but in the bulk of her fights the enemy's Life Fibers had taken the brunt of the damage leaving them, like herself, with lacerations at the worst from crossing with a Life Fiber infused blade.

She had caved, mostly due to Batman's true superpower of being able to put his foot down and convince others by means of the patented Bat Stare (among other techniques, such as the infinitely more powerful Bat Glare). Thus she had spent much of the morning training in kendo with a hired ninth-dan kendoka, then sparring with said kendoka, then Robin, Black Canary (whom she had learned was really named Dinah Lance), and finally the Caped Crusader himself, depending on how busy he was - other times it was one of the Justice League's other big guns. That afternoon would be education of the more traditional sort - basic GED stuff, but also on how crime fighting was done in this world, who was who, who made and did what where (and when), who to talk down from fighting, who to punch on sight, and who it was okay to cut the limbs off of since they'd just grow back. And some more intensive-than-usual English lessons, sped along by Martian Manhunter. Turned out telepathy was great when it came to language education.

The safehouse's intercom - of course the safehouse had an intercom, it was a lightly-used Wayne estate - came on from the wall, and from it came Alfred's voice.

"]Miss Matoi, lunch is ready. I have prepared what I believe to be a correct interpretation of salmon yakizakana - do forgive me, I haven't done Japanese style grilling in several years, so I may be out of practice.]"

Ryuuko pressed the mic button on the intercom. Alfred reminded her of an English Soroi, albeit somewhat more willing to get into the line of fire. "'[S'all right, Alfred, I haven't _had_ yakizakana in years. I'm sure it'll be good.]"

She could practically hear the old man's smile. "Then I shall expect you shortly."

"Yeah yeah," Ryuuko said as her finger came away from the button. The dining room was a bit of a walk from the Batcave training room, but Ryuuko was good enough with directions that she wasn't going to get lost this time. Probably. The grand tour on her first day here helped.

"Oh, hey Ryuuko!"

As had Robin hanging around her as a fellow underage hero in his rather successful attempt at showing her the ropes of American hero work when one was not legally an adult. She still cringed when he used her first name a little - what was with Americans and going to first name basis so quickly?

"Hello, _Grayson_."

Now it's his turn to cringe. "Still gonna be like that, huh?" Ryuuko nodded. He shrugged. "Suit yourself." He followed her as she slung her towel over her shoulder and headed for the main entrance to the manor proper, with Senketsu hopping along behind her. Much like the Batcave, most of the larger Bat Family safehouses were located underground, either within a few kilometers of the building it was 'attached' to (such as the main one in Georgia), or directly beneath it, such as this one or the Batcave.

 _[How was your sparring session, Ryuuko?]_

"[Tiring. I don't think Shimada-sensei is at Uzu's level, though I'm not sure if that's because of the Goku Uniform or pure skill. Still, so long as I don't face any superhuman shinai wielders I should be fine.]"

Robin (and the rest of the Batfam) plus the Justice League Et Cetera had already gotten used to Senketsu and Ryuuko's 'one-sided' conversations. It was _weird_ yes, but they weren't about to toss her in Arkham Asylum over it. There were plenty of weirder things, even in the Justice League itself.

"[So, you have any ideas?]"

"['Bout what?]"

Robin raised his eyebrow as he turned around - walking backwards as he continued along with Ryuuko to the dining room, largely because he _could._

"[You know - superhero stuff. Hero name, base of operations, hunting grounds, that stuff.]"

"[Oh, _that -_ ,]" Ryuuko said as realization swept her face like something that swept quickly across things. She dismissively waved her hand. "[Can't I just, Iunno, be Batgirl or somethin' and hang out with you and Batman?]"

It was Robin's turn to seem unsure. "[Well… thing is, I'm pretty sure Batman doesn't trust you enough yet to take you in. Letting you help out in Gotham, maybe, but actually being part of the Bat Family is another entirely.]"

"[He let me train in one of his safehouses.]"

"[A safehouse in South Texas he never uses.]"

Ryuuko raised her hand as if to argue, but dropped it a minute later. "[That's… fair. I guess after so long working on something like a team, I just didn't want to have to do things solo… again.]"

Robin shrugged. "[Understandable.] By the way, we really should work on your English, since I don't think Kid Flash or Superboy have very good Japanese."

Robin 2, Ryuuko 1 when it came to cringing. "Fine, fine. I guess… I dunno… I guess I could just use Texas as my stomping grounds."

"Texas is almost twice the size of Japan."

Ryuuko decided she may as well give up keeping score at that point. "Well, what areas _aren't_ claimed in Texas yet?"

They had reached the house proper by this point, pushing open a door hidden behind a bookcase. Old school, but since the bookcase was backed with an inch of lead, it worked.

"Well, El Paso is out 'cause that's where the Blue Beetle is, so… well, anything besides here and there would work, though Houston is kinda-sorta Doctor Fate's turf so…"

"Dallas it is then."

Robin smiled as he pushed the door to the dining room. "Dallas, nice. Good weather, good food, and it's big enough that it could use a hero or two. So what're you gonna call yourself?"

"Well if Batgirl is out, then… ehhh…"

 **Earth 16**

 **Mount Justice Cave Base**

 **Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, United States**

 **11:16 Eastern Daylight Time**

 **July 18, 2010**

" _ **Recognized - Robin, B-01; Kid Flash, B-03; Hasamiha, B-06."**_

The three members of 'the Team' as members called it, or 'junior Justice League' as Speedy, now Red Arrow, had elected to call it, entered in rather casual clothing for a superhero team base of operations. But then, they were teenagers, and this wasn't the Watchtower.

Robin, technically first to arrive, showed up in some of the tightest jeans Ryuuko had ever seen in her life that weren't distastefully so, a black jacket, and a Hal Jordan Green Lantern hoodie - he considered it ironic to not own any Batman merchandise. Kid Flash went all out with a yellow long-sleeve shirt, red shortsleeve button top, jeans, and a belt. Over in the center of the room, in front of a blue holographic screen/keyboard, the other three members of the team - Aqualad in a blue and black track jacket and black windbreaker, Miss Martian in a simple white blouse with a red jacket and skirt, and Superboy in a Superman shirt, jeans, and a dark brown leather jacket.

Ryuuko didn't know what planet(s) these teenagers came from, but on her planet most people dressed a bit more lightly than that during summer, especially in humid-as-hell southern Japan. Or Texas. Of course, she never had to deal with hiding her costume before, and she wasn't doing it now either - she had on sneakers, Senketsu, and her old letterman jacket, and that was good enough for her in the heat of the New England summer.

Kid Flash was practically running full tilt as he headed towards the other three members of the team, but Ryuuko and Robin kept pace well enough.

"Well? Is he here? You get an answer?" Kid Flash was practically bouncing up and down as he asked, narrowly avoiding slamming into Aqualad but not so narrowly that it would be awkward. The Atlantean in question merely shook his head.

"He'll be arriving in a few minutes."

"Good, then we have time. Allow me to present - drum roll please…"

No drum roll came, but that didn't stop Kid Flash. "Presenting…. Hasamiha, our newest interdimensional teammate!"

"Konnichiwa."

"Her powers are… what exactly did your sailor uniform do again, Hasamiha?"

 _Well, Senketsu?_

 _[A few minutes can't hurt.]_

Upon his approval, Ryuuko gave a smirk, lifted her hand to her face, and pulled the tab on her red glove. Superboy's left eyebrow shot up as he noticed the distinct smell of blood, but that was peanuts in comparison to what happened next.

Senketsu seemed to 'peel away' from Ryuuko's body as the jacket was shrugged off by his movement. At first it seemed like this very metal magical girl transformation sequence of hers would require her changing the traditional way - that is, involving nudity - but Senketsu's form shifted to cover what modesty she had well before any of them could tell. He shifted, reformed - the ascot flipped upwards and formed a pair of jagged 'eyes' above her chest, the skirt shrank to almost scandalous lengths and sprouted a series of metallic points, the underskirt dropped away and reformed to a pair of form-fitting stockings/boots, the back changed form entirely to something resembling a cross between a jet's exhaust and the back of an air conditioner, and her hair's sole red highlight was joined by a red underdye.

As she transformed, so did her weapon. She pulled the scissor blades from her pocket, spun them around, and them 'unfolded' to their full length - each about that of a typical sword, but much thicker. They were clearly halves of a pair of scissors, but their size and sharpness made it clear - these weren't for cutting paper.

After the transformation finished, what was apparently Senketsu's exhaust port belched a jet of steam that filled the air, before Ryuuko settled into a more natural combat stance.

After the others (bar Robin who had seen it before) had picked their jaws up from the floor, and after Kid Flash had dug his jaw up from the Earth's core, Ryuuko gave a brief rundown of the abilities granted to her by Senketsu - immense strength, incredible speed, superior durability, standard superhuman brick stuff. In addition, the scissor blades allowed her to 'absorb' life fibers, which she admitted was probably not going to be useful in this universe. A brief demonstration took place where she handily beat the living daylights out of a poor, defenseless holographic punching bag.

She gave two practice swings downwards, and Senketsu shifted back to his regular form.

"The one downside is that I cannot keep that… form… up forever. Senketsu _literally_ runs on my blood."

"Even so, your strength will be a great boon to this team," said Aqualad.

"It'll be nice to have another girl on the team," said Miss Martian.

"Yeah… nice," said exactly who you think, with exactly the face you think. Ryuuko either was so desensitized that she didn't notice/care, or pointedly ignored it.

Before Kid Flash could do any more damage to his own reputation right that moment, Robin interrupted with news.

"Tornado's here."

That certainly got Kid Flash's attention. "Alright, let's go then!" He didn't even wait for the others to keep up.

 **Earth 16**

 **Mount Justice Main (Hidden) Entrance**

 **Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, United States**

 **11:27 Eastern Daylight Time**

 **July 18, 2010**

The 'main' entrance to Mount Justice was hidden under a grass-covered panel that fell away, revealing an entrance large enough to drive two main battle tanks through side by side, with room to spare above them. Not that anyone would be stupid enough to drive a pair of tanks into a facility full of heroes, even teenage ones.

Red Tornado came in for a landing riding his namesake down, using it to cushion his landing. Better than a parachute at least. Kid Flash took the honors of waving him down.

" _ **Greetings. Is there a reason you intercepted me outside the Cave?"**_

Six teenagers looked at each other awkwardly for a tense 2.3 seconds before Aqualad spoke up. "We hoped that you had a mission for us."

" _ **Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."**_

"But it's been over a week an-" Robin's protest was cut down by Red Tornado.

" _ **You will be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company. Assist Hasamiha in familiarizing herself with how we do things in this dimension."**_

Awkward looks changed to looks with a mix of betrayal and annoyance, with a dash of aggravation, with the mix varying among them. Except Miss Martian, who just looked disappointed.

"I'm a fast learner," Ryuuko pointed out in a bold-faced lie (though in this case it was somewhat true). "And I've spent most of the past few _days_ training on how 'you do things'."

"And this is not a social club," Aqualad added.

" _ **No. But I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can 'keep busy' by familiarizing yourselves with the cave."**_ Considering the conversation over, the iron man walked past them into the cave, which recognized him as Justice League member number 16, and ignored the six faces of disappointed teenagers.

"'Keep busy' he says," said a very aggravated Kid Flash with a nudging elbow to Robin.

"Does he really think we'll fall for that?" the Boy Wonder asked.

"Ooh, I'll find out," offered Miss Martian as she turned to Red Tornado's back and made a very concentrated face. For a few seconds. Before she slapped her head and remembered something important.

"Sorry… forgot he's a machine. No organic mind to read."

"Good try though," said Kid Flash as he gave her an appreciative pat on the back. "Soooo, ah… you know what I'm thinkin' right now?"

Everyone knew what he was thinking right now, but they were too polite to say that, except Robin who didn't care and knew Kid Flash well enough to know he didn't care that he didn't care.

"And now we tour the _clubhouse_ ," said a dejected Aquaman as if he was suggesting a tour of an excessively saccharine, childish daycare center.

Which the way they (felt they) were (being) treated so far, wasn't far from the truth.

* * *

 **an:** That took a lot longer than expected, and let me tell you that _really_ wews my lads. Hoped to get this out before August, but July was super busy for me so I didn't get many chances to work on this. Ah well, it's out now. At this rate, the next chapter for Paladin Squadron might (might) be out late September, depending on how long my next project (or projects, might do both) take to write up the first chapters of. But hey, nobody can really see the future, certainly not me, otherwise I'd be typing this on something other than an old laptop with a busted chassis! Remember to review, fave, or even follow if you like it _that_ much!


	3. III: Ridin' the Storm Out

**disclaimer:** What, no banter?

 **an:** headache. just get on with it.

 **disclaimer:** alright then. Kill la Kill is a product of Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima, and property of them and Studio Trigger, a division of Ultra Super Pictures. Young Justice is a production of Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman (among others), and is owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers Animation.

"Spoken"

"[Spoken in something other than English]"

 _Thought_

 _++Telepathic communication++_

" _ **Non-radio electronic communication"**_

 _ **[[Radio or similar communication]]**_

* * *

 **chapter iii: ridin' the storm out**

 _Ridin' the Storm Out_

 _Side 01 Track 01: Ridin' the Storm Out_

 _Released: December 21 1973_

 _Artist: R.E.O. Speedwagon_

 _Language: English_

 **Earth-16**

 **Mount Justice**

 **Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, United States**

 **12:00 Eastern Daylight Time**

 **July 18, 2010**

Ryuuko tried to pay attention to Miss Martian's tour of their little fortress, she really did. When it came to memorizing where was what, at least, she succeeded. Thirty minutes of the rest of the Team (but mostly Miss Martian) talking about the base's history was a lot to take in, even if it wasn't really a solid 30 minutes of talking.

She still tuned out a lot of information about the predecessors to the Justice League, and the Justice League itself. The most she caught on to was that they had formed during the Second World War, and the Justice League had fought some elemental-powered aliens, and in the end had to be abandoned – but that made it a perfect place to hide in plain sight.

It definitely wasn't because some things were lost in translation, no sir. Besides, anything she missed, she was sure Senketsu would tell her later.

 _++You really should start relying on me less, Ryuuko.++_

 _Oh, shut up._

Ryuuko's reverie was interrupted by Superboy commenting that he smelled smoke, which provoked a gasp from Miss Martian. She shouted about her cookies, then flew off towards the kitchen. Senketsu's eye drifted up towards Ryuuko, who turned to Robin. He shrugged, and the five of them went off after their sixth member.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Upon reaching the kitchen, it became apparent to Ryuuko, who had never gotten above a 78 in home economics in her life, that the cookies were beyond saving. Miss Martian pulled the sheet out anyway, confirming Ryuuko's suspicions – on the tray were nine lumps of charcoal. She'd done better, but she'd also done much worse – neither of which she mentioned.

"I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode 17 of – uhh, never mind," the Martian girl said sheepishly as Kid Flash proceeded to dig into them anyway.

"I'm sure they'd have tasted great," Robin said in an attempt to cheer her up. "He doesn't seem to mind."

Kid Flash looked up from the cookies just in time to realize everyone else was looking at him.

"I, uhh, have a serious metabolism."

"I'll… make more?"

"It was sweet of you to make any," said Aqualad.

Miss Martian sighed in small relief. "Thanks, Aqualad."

The dark-skinned Atlantean shook his head. "We're off duty – call me Kaldur'ahm… actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally," said Kid Flash in his usual tone when he was making an attempt at flirting. "See, I already trust you with my secret I.D. - unlike dark and broody over here; Batman's forbidden the Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

"No problem for me, I-" Ryuuko tried to say, before Robin elbowed her in the side and shook his head. Ryuuko gave him an "are you serious" look, to which the Boy Wonder only nodded.

 _Not even in the Batfamily and I gotta keep up this 'secret identity' crap._

"Well, mine's no secret – it's M'gann M'orzz! But, you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."

She then turned to the as-then-lacking-in-secret-identity Superboy as he skulked off, only for him to whip around, rage clear on his face. Clearly she didn't stop whatever was pissing him off, as he decided to make it clear to everyone else.

"Get _out of my_ _ **head!**_ "

M'gann was more shocked by this than anything, and tuned her apparent telepathy to include the rest of the team.

 _++What's wrong? I-I don't understand - everyone on Mars communicates telepathically-++_

Ryuuko had gotten used to telepathy – it had taken some time, but she had eventually gotten used to Senketsu being in her head. This was different and she suspected Senketsu being made specifically for her had something to do with it. It was almost painful – Megan's telepathy was a knife being moved too hard through a steak and grinding against the plate beneath it.

Still less horrifying than having thoughts stitched into her brain. But Megan was just communicating.

Just communicating, and it felt like her brain was being played with a bow saw.

Kaldur had to step in. "M'gann – stop!"

She stopped. She looked even more shocked than before.

"Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides," added Wally, "Cadmus's creepy psychic gremlins left a bad taste in his brain."

Megan was practically stumbling over herself to apologize, but Superboy was clearly uninterested as he shot her a look that could burn through steel before storming off.

"Just. _Stay._ _ **Out.**_ "

Credit to Megan though – she recovered fast.

"Hello, Megan! I know what we can do..."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The hangar was at the southern edge of Mount Justice's third floor, facing the sea, and the kitchen was squarely in the middle. So it was a bit of a walk to get there, but when they did, it was hard to be impressed. The hangar was large, but it was just flat sheets of grey metal everywhere, with any equipment being hidden away – no doubt behind the massive panels big enough to hide a car laid vertically against the wall in. Despite being one of the faster walkers, Superboy trailed behind the group. Megan had managed to (somehow) convince him to come, and he looked more annoyed than pissed, but he still wasn't so much as looking her in the eye. In the center of the hangar was… an egg.

A big ruby-colored egg with black stripes.

Miss Martian gestured to it as if it was a source of pride for a Martian to own an egg the size of a school bus.

"It's my Martian bio-ship."

 _Ah._ That would explain why it would be a source of pride for a Martian to own an egg the size of a school bus.

"Cute. Not aerodynamic," said Wally, "but cute."

M'gann just smirked. "It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it." Reaching out her hand towards it and closing her eyes in focus, she did just that – the main body of the egg flattened, narrowing at the back but maintaining width at the front. The upper front of the teardrop-shaped fuselage turned into a mass of black, clearly representative of a cockpit window. At the sides, lumps extended out, lengthened, flattened, turning into a pair of blade-like, Y-shaped wings. With a wave of her hand, she even turns it around, revealing a flat, paneled backside to the fuselage which promptly opened up a door and disgorged a gangplank.

It was then that Ryuuko finally recognized the bioship.

"That's the ship that Martian Manhunter picked me up in!"

"Uncle?" M'gann asked, eyebrow raised. "He did say he took it for a test drive..." she mused as she walked up the gangplank. She paused at the top and peered inside the cockpit, looking a bit confused for a moment. But just for a moment, then she turned and smiled at the others.

"Well? Are you coming?"

The other members hesitate a bit, but all five board the alien craft. Inside, they find a cabin of purples and blues arranged much like the bridge of the Enterprise-D – two seats close together up front, a raised captain's chair in the middle with two more seats beside it, and a third seat with a sort of panel thing behind the captain's chair.

Kaldur and Superboy took the front two seats, Robin and Wally took the outer two, and Ryuuko took up the rear as M'gann settled into the captain's chair and brought up a pair of globe-topped pillars. As they all did, the chairs morphed a five-point harness for each of them. Reactions to this were mixed – Ryuuko narrowly avoided letting out a girlish yelp, Robin managed to keep his down to a 'whoa', and Wally seemed genuinely impressed.

"Red Tornado, please open the hangar doors."

The android did not respond, but the doors opened anyway. The bioship lifted up and took to the air at a nice, leisurely pace, until M'gann got a childish smirk.

"I've never flown a bioship in an atmosphere this thick before… how about we see what it can do?"

After a round of confirmations of acceptance of that plan, most excitedly from Wally, M'gann's grin widened.

 _I immediately regret this decision,_ thought Ryuuko as the bioship suddenly accelerated like a plane on a catapult and pulled nearly straight up. She then cut the engines entirely, but before the bioship could truly begin to fall, she feathered the steering and put the bioship into a double cobra before gunning it straight down, only to pull back up just in time to skim the water. All the while, everyone on board had very different opinions on M'gann's barnstorming.

Ryuuko was silent in her concern.

Superboy gripped the seat for dear life but was also silent.

Robin thought the Batplane was still better.

Kaldur thought Atlantean subfighters were about the same in the water, though it felt a bit odd performing such stunts in the air.

Wally and M'gann were having a blast, and both continued to cheer and laugh. M'gann performed a double loop that went into a slalom between a long row of sailboats, then barrel rolled around a Cessna before she decided that it was enough fun for the day. She leveled off, taking a nice steady cruising speed of about 300 knots around the edge of Happy Harbor.

"Incredible..." said Robin

"She sure is," Wally replied, only to immediately backpedal under M'gann's gaze and say he was talking about the bioship – which, like all planes, is a 'she'.

Robin couldn't help himself. He gave Wally a knowing look before turning to M'gann. "Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth."

"Dude!" But it was too late – All three of the other occupants from M'gann back were at the least snickering at his expense.

Ahh, banter. O, how Ryuuko had missed it coming from people her age and at her skill level. Superman's was always too child-friendly and dolphin-safe, Captain Marvel's too childish, Wonder Woman's too formal, Flash and Plastic Man were always a little too busy to train her, and Batman was as much capable of banter as sprouting wings.

Ryuuko didn't hear whatever Kaldur and Superboy were talking about, but Robin must have, as he quickly maneuvered the conversation away from Wally's ineptitude at talking to girls.

"Don't worry, he'll come around."

"He doesn't seem to like me much," admitted M'gann. Left unsaid was that he had a decent reason to.

"Doesn't seem to like _anyone_ much," Ryuuko added.

"You guys realize he has _super hearing,_ right?" Wally helpfully pointed out, not bothering to whisper like the others.

It was again up to Robin to steer the conversation away from an awkward situation, this time towards what exactly Miss Martian was capable of herself. And while it wasn't as much as the Martian Manhunter himself (notably she couldn't phase through walls, but neither could Kid Flash), it was still a lot – she managed to transform into a female version of all the boys but Superboy and a rather accurate representation of Ryuuko, though her thought-responsive clothing seemed at a bit of a loss as to how to recreate even Senketsu's inactive form. Levitation and telekinesis she had already shown, but what she hadn't shown she had to mention, as it was hard to see from the cockpit until she pulled the bioship over the water and rolled onto its side.

The team looked down. There was no team (or bioship) looking up at them.

"Camouflage mode."

They were all stealthily following the Cessna from earlier when the ship pinged.

 _ **[[Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate – covertly. I'm sending you the coordinates.]]**_

"Received. Adjusting course."

Robin scoffed. "More busy work, no doubt."

M'gann was a bit more optimistic. "Well, a fire led you to Superboy, and Uncle says Hasamiha dropped out of a dimensional hole. We should at least find out what caused the alert."

Turns out a tornado is ample cause for an alert in southern New England. M'gann tried to maneuver around it but the tornado seemed alive in the way it suddenly snapped around to swallow the bioship. It tossed the bioship at a cluster of parked SUVs before charging back for the power plant, no doubt to cause more mischief. M'gann just barely manages to stop the bioship before it can so much as scratch the trucks beneath it, then much more controlledly positions the ship above a free set of parking spaces. The Team drops out of the bottom of the ship, which darts off into the distance until it's no more than a red dot.

In front of them, power plant workers run out in a blind panic from the doors. One even jumps from a second-story window, landing in an acceptable roll and continuing on, nearly colliding with Ryuuko.

"Are tornadoes common to New England?" shouted Aqualad over the roar of the wind, turning first to Robin with his question. Except Robin was not there, only his laughter was

"Robin?"

"Kuso, not again," muttered Hasamiha as she activated Senketsu.

 _++That boy's going to cause no end of trouble like this.++_

 _You said it._

The windows blew out one by one, pelting the teenage heroes with glass as they approached the larger of the two ground entrances. Inside it was… far less damaged than any of them expected. The turbines were still intact, most of the cables were intact (though some had popped out of whatever was holding them in place), and it seemed that most of the systems were still online.

On the far side of the room stood a man in a robotic suit (or just a robot) of black and red, with a brown tattered scarf and blue tubes on his shoulders, arms, and back. There was no face to judge facial expressions from, but from the posture he seemed almost… disappointed?

This was all very confusing, but Hasamiha put it out of her mind as she caught a flying Robin being blasted back by a typhoon-strength gust of wind before he could hit something; Ryuuko herself landed on the steel balcony that served as a second floor. Superboy jumped up from the loading area to join them.

"Who's your new friend?" he asked as he dropped to a crouch.

"Didn't catch his name," the Boy Wonder admitted as he squirmed out of Hasamiha's grip, "but he plays a little rough."

The robotic man dismissed the wind around him and moved into a come-at-me-bro kind of stance.

" _ **My apologies, allow me to correct that. You may address me as Mister Twister."**_ With his introduction out of the way, he quickly intercepted the charging Superboy and used a pair of tornadoes to fling him into a support beam. The dent the half-Kryptonian made in it made it clear he'd be feeling that in the morning.

Miss Martian finally came in, landing next to Robin. looked around at the four more experienced heroes around her, who nodded back at her. True teamwork was beyond them at this point, but a simple charge attack wasn't that hard of an idea to communicate, even without telepathy. All at once, they moved.

Kid Flash led the charge, making a beeline for Mister Twister before handspringing into a flying two-leg kick with a quarter of the distance to go. The red-black android caught him with a blast of wind with a few inches to spare and almost dismissively backhanded him into a turbine with enough force to knock him out cold. Miss Martian flew almost as high as the roof and dove almost straight down in a flying kick, but Mister Twister caught her leg and threw her at Aqualad, sending them both crashing into a pillar.

" _ **I was expecting heroes, not a squadron of sidekicks,"**_ the android said as Robin leapt from an overhead walkway. **_"Least of all one made up of children."_**

"We're not _children,_ " Robin insisted as he tossed a pair of bladed disc bombs at him.At the same time, Hasamiha burst out from behind a support pillar at full speed, coming at Mister Twister from the side. Unsurprised, he caught the bombs and Ryuuko in a tornado, blowing the bombs aside and forcing Ryuuko to stab her Scissor Blades into the ground to prevent from being sent flying like the others. This at last gets his full attention and he immediately ups the windspeed on her. When this failed to blow her away, he fired a bolt of electricity at the blades themselves. The Life Fibers in her and Senketsu may not have been conductive, but the ground and the Scissor Blades absolutely were, and she yelped as she let go and was immediately blown into a wall.

" _ **Objectively, you are."**_ He held off the wind and thunder for a moment as the team (bar the still unconscious Kid Flash) got to their feet. **_"Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here without it… disturbing."_**

"Well, sorry to see you so _disturbed,_ " Robin said mockingly as the conscious part of the team grouped up around him. "Maybe you'll be a little more _turbed_ after we kick your can!"

 _Suggestions?_

 _++Ryuuko, Senjin form should provide more than enough grip to keep you from being blown away.++_

She paused for but a moment, as Miss Martian telekinetically ripped a steam pipe in half above the metal man, providing an acceptable smokescreen for them all to move in.

 _Sure woulda helped against the Aviation Club…_

Hasamiha let out a roar as Senketsu transformed further – spikes down the straps on her stomach, on the edges of Senketsu's 'eyes', her arms, along the sides of her legs. The horns on her head doubled in length, her heels seemed to widen, and she gained a pair of red, Wolverine-style claws on both hands.

Things happened quite fast after that. Superboy jumped up and dove in as Miss Martian had, and just in the same way he was caught and tossed away. Said alien narrowly avoided the thrown clone and used her telekinesis to rip one of the steam pipes out of the ceiling completely and toss it down at Mister Twister, who easily dodged it.

Clearly visual wasn't the only spectrum his eyes could pick up.

Robin drew another set of explosive discs and Aqualad charged from near the turbines, drawing from both his own magic and the electricity from the plant itself to charge up a spell with a bit more punch. Both were dispatched with a blast of wind, Mister Twister actually managing to slam the two together. It was a good thing that Robin hadn't armed the discs yet.

Hasamiha jumped over the both of them, blades in both hands and a jet of pink light from the vent on her back in her wake. A blast of wind is only good to force her to actually plant her feet on the ground, the spikes on her shoes digging up gravelly clumps of concrete with each step. Mister Twister put up his arms to block her and realized, too late, that that was exactly what she had been counting on.

She couldn't target the arms or body, not without absolutely confirming Mister Twister was indeed an android, but there were plenty of ways to skin a blowhard. She raised her arms up and slashed in a downward X, cutting the blue cables above the wrists. Using the momentum, she flipped forward, and propelled herself off his wrists with a double kick to land herself next to Aqualad and Robin.

Mister Twister let out an aggravated roar and pointed the jets on his wrists at the three, clearly intending to blow them away. All that came out was a sputter of sparks and a whine like that of a dying jet engine. He didn't need a face for the Team to realize just how un-pleased he was with this development as he stared at the jet on his right arm. He let both arms fall to his sides and released both jets with a hiss-click, as well as the blue cables.

And then he _clapped._

"Impressive. I won't deny you children have power," he said, "but if you think disabling my aerojets will stop me..."

He raised his right hand in a fist to his face, and blue bolts of electricity crackled around him in earnest.

"You're _dead_ wrong."

Hasamiha and Superboy _moved_ to stop him, but they weren't fast enough. His hand went to the side, and a blast of electricity struck a turbine with enough force to detonate it. This had the desired effect of knocking most of the teenage heroes down, but unfortunately for Mister Twister, the shrapnel hit him as well. No matter. There were only a few cuts in the armor, and what wires were now exposed only led to the jets – which he had already removed.

He turned for the exit, levitating off the ground with his weaker boot jets.

" _ **Yes, that was quite 'turbing'. Thank you."**_

He was out the door by the time Kid Flash's body _finally_ deigned to allow him back into the fun. Once again, he decided to rush out, easily outpacing the metal man and stopping in front of him in a fight-me pose.

"What'd you do to my team?"

If this was an attempt to intimidate Mister Twister, it was a complete failure. He shrugged offhandedly. "Embarrassed them, largely." He then brought his hands together and produced a single massive thunderbolt that sent Kid Flash flying – unlike Adult Flash he was, sadly, not faster than a speeding bullet, let alone lightning.

He was caught – midair and still screaming – by Miss Martian. "I got ya Wally," she said as she let him down gently.

On the other side of the villain, Robin, Superboy, Aqualad, and Hasamiha formed something like a barrier between him and the power plant.

" _ **I would have thought you'd all learned your limitations by this point."**_

"What do you _**want?!**_ " shouted Aqualad.

" _ **Isn't it obvious?"**_ asked Mister Twister, raising his arms halfway to praising the Sun. **_"I'm waiting for a_ real _hero."_**

The Atlantean wasn't convinced. He turned to Miss Martian. "Read his mind."

"But-I thought-"

"It's _okay_ with the bad guys!" both Hasamiha and Robin hissed, though Hasamiha slowed up a little at the contraction. Still had a bit of trouble.

Reluctantly, Miss Martian nodded. She cleared her mind, focused her telepathy and… nothing.

Wait, nothing?

"Hello, Megan! Mister Twister is a T.O. Morrow android!"

 _Who?_

 _++A mad scientist who also built Red Tornado.++_

"He's inorganic – there's no mind _for_ me to read. And how many mad scientists do you know that make red androids with elemental powers?"

Aqualad grinned. "Then this should be simple."

"What, you have a plan already?" asked a vaguely surprised Robin.

"If you all are willing to listen to it, yes. Just in case, M'gann, contact Red Tornado..."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Those kids had been talking for quite some time. Well, not _very_ long by standard definitions of the concept – but in battle, time passed more slowly, and forty-five seconds had already passed since the teenage heroes had started conversing with each other. During which time, Mister Twister continued to just hover there, menacingly. Kids. Rookie heroes and sidekicks on their first jobs alone (or with others) always seemed to think that talking was a free action just like in cartoons. He was willing to humor them; they _were_ just kids.

However.

He also wasn't going to just sit around and let them get down every intricate detail of a plan, and if they couldn't come up with something moderately possible in 45 seconds, then they weren't worth the time he had already spent.

" _ **Far be it from me to interrupt an enemy when they're making a mistake, but I believe this has gone on quite long enough."**_

He descended from the skies, the air literally crackling with energy around him as he prepared to finish this in one – wait.

Where was the speedster brat?

The 'speedster brat' was directly beneath him and running in circles fast enough to create a tornado as strong as the ones Mister Twister was ironically no longer capable of creating. Without his arm-mounted air jets, Mister Twister only had enough control to keep himself from flying into the power plant's wall, and that was from the tornado alone.

Miss Martian's telekinesis was more than enough to take what control he had left and slam him into the wall, and a smoke grenade from Robin blinded him to Hasamiha and Superboy's fists crushing his shoulder joints.

He dropped to the ground like a stone, and Aqualad delivered the coup de grace via watery blades from his Water-Bearers to the shoulders, cutting off Mister Twister's arms entirely.

The android sat up, and its chest opened to reveal a simple cockpit and a wiry brown-haired man with not enough muscle and too much sideburn for serious villaining.

"F-Foul," he stuttered, "I-I call foul..."

Miss Martian focused intently on him, her eyes narrowing then snapping wide. She karate-chopped the air, and a wave of telekinesis cut the man in half, revealing that he was an android, too.

Wally winced, bending over to examine the wreckage. "There better not be an evil baby piloting this one..." Nonetheless, he reached down and plucked a mechanical eye from a mechanical socket, holding it aloft when Ryuuko raised an eyebrow at the action.

"Souvenir."

Neither he nor anyone else noticed the iris flashing red.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 **Earth-16**

 **Mount Justice**

 **Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, United States**

 **3:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time**

 **July 18, 2010**

"It was most likely created to sabotage or abduct you," Kaldur said to the far less hostile wind-wielding red android there with the rest of the Team. They really needed a name besides that, 'covert' ops or no.

" _ **Agreed."**_

They were all gathered in the main 'briefing room' of Mount Justice, where Ryuuko had first demonstrated her transformation. The wreckage of what was once Mister Twister was laid out on a simple steel table lit in the blue glow of the cave's supercomputer, which was scanning for anything useful. They'd found a lot, including that it had been monitoring them until M'gann shorted out the other eye.

"Is this why you wouldn't help us?" asked M'gann, who still seemed a bit nervous.

" _ **Had I stepped in, it would not have been to**_ **help** ** _. This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you, nor is it your role to solve mine for me."_**

"But-"

" _ **Consider the matter closed,"**_ the android said as he headed for the boom tubes.

To his credit, Wally didn't seem all that upset by Red Tornado's statement. "Superman, Aquaman, Flash, they'd all've jumped in for the assist."

Robin nodded in thought. "Guess if we _have_ to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is our best option."

"Robin!"

"Dude! Harsh!"

" _ **And inaccurate,"**_ said a Red Tornado who had stopped as cold as Robin's blood. **_"I have a heart – nanotube steel fiber coated in vanadium alloy. I also have excellent hearing."_**

Robin sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Right, I'll uhh… strive to be more… accurate."

"And respectful," said Kaldur as he put a hand on the Boy Wonder's shoulder.

Red Tornado said nothing, but turned back to the exit without so much as a swish of his cape, and left with the Cave computer's announcement. M'gann stayed behind to watch him leave, as the boys headed back to the dorms.

"You know what? This team thing," started Wally.

"Might work out," finished Kaldur. Ryuuko couldn't help but agree.

She couldn't hear what Superboy said to M'gann as he stayed behind, but from the smile on her face, she didn't need to.

* * *

 **an:** I wanted to give Mister Twister the full fight, and give M'gann her Character Moment here. I really did. But Ryuuko is as much of a powerhouse as Superboy at _least_ , and she has a sword – and can get spiky. It became pretty obvious early on as I was writing this chapter that she'd end up forcing Mister Twister's hand. M'gann is a rookie, but I doubt J'onn would leave out in her crash course on Earth's greatest heroes that Red Tornado can't shoot lightning. Aquaman might, but I think in the episode it was more Kaldur trusting M'gann a little more than he should have, plus being caught up in the moment.

Well, that and I don't want to stick _too_ close to the canon path if I can. Thankfully there's plenty of time in July 2010 according to the canon timeline for Ryuuko to at least be up to other stuff so it at least doesn't _look_ like I'm sticking extra-close to canon.


End file.
